Eurovisions Science Slam 2026:

Meet the Speakers

FILIPE CRUZ

Gamification of Festival da Canção: Analysis of game elements in the 1964, 1994 and 2024 editions

A lecturer in Technology and Information Systems as well as content creator and reporter of major events, Filipe examines the presence and evolution of gaming elements in Festival da Canção, (Portugal’s national song contest), through a comparative analysis of three editions (1964, 1994 and 2024), exploring how game-related structures and logics intersect with a major cultural and media event.

IREM ELBIR

The Phantom Stage: Remembering “Old Türkiye” Through

the Digital Afterlife of Eurovision

Currently a PhD candidate at Europa-Universität Flensburg, Irem proposes to examine how today in Türkiye Eurovision survives as a site of digital memory and political resistance for the secular part of the society who feel increasingly marginalized under the current government. By analyzing digital spaces such as YouTube and X (Twitter), this study identifies the emergence of affective publics

LUISE POPPE

Examining the Austrian media coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest

A student of Journalism and Media Management at the FH Wien der WKW, Luise brings an event that has been part of her life for decades. Examining the Eurovision Song Contest’s Austrian media coverage and using the 2025 contest as a case study, Luise focuses on the three websites of the media outlets ORF, Kronen Zeitung and Der Standard. The coverage is examined in detail with regard to several topics such as the Middle East conflict, diversity and the artists’ stories.

MAX BAUER

The development of the Eurovision Song Contest fan community in Austria (2024, 2025/2026)

Currently working at at ORF’s Hitradio Ö3, and in that quality regularly reporting on the Eurovision Song Contest, this former student of journalism and political science proposes to examine the development and characteristics of the Eurovision Song Contest fan community in Austria, based on a comparative survey conducted in 2014 and 2025/26. His study explores how fan demographics, motivations, and perceptions of the contest have evolved over time.

GINA GRAD, RAMONA WILLIG, LILLY HÜTTER, NOËLLE GÜTTINGER, AMELIE ZIEGLER AND JANINA HARTMANN

Social Network Analysis of the Eurovision Song Contest (1975-2025)

With very different backgrounds ranging from dance and culture to medicine, law and politics, these six young students of Cross-Media Redaktion/Public Relations propose to make a social network analysis of the Eurovision Song Contest, examining whether voting patterns in this event between 1975 and 2025 reflect geographical or political relationships among participating countries.

RAPHAEL R. MEDEIROS DE CAMPOS

Wonderment Throughout the Ages: Baroque Spectacles and the Eurovision Song Contest

A bachelor in communications and holding a master’s degree in music history, Raphael R. Medeiros de Campos proposes to read the Eurovision Song Contest as a neo-baroque spectacle, highlighting links between seemingly distant eras of cultural production and, thus, situating the contest within a longer lineage of musical spectacles. Raphael argues that both Baroque spectacles and the ESC exceed purely musical dimensions, becoming immersive sensorial experiences that entertain audiences while also serving political ends.

SARAH BRANDSTÄTTER

Gender distribution in the Austrian music industry, using festivals as an example.

Sarah is a 26 years old Master’s student in Digital Media Management specializing in the music industry. Currently involved in the Austrian delegation team for the Eurovision Song Contest, her master’s thesis examines gender distribution in the Austrian music industry, with a particular focus on booking practices at music festivals, arguing that while public discourse increasingly addresses gender equality in cultural sectors, structural imbalances remain evident, especially in festival line- ups.

STEVEN JEON

What If BTS Competed in Eurovision? Fan Power in Global Music Contests

With a PhD in Musicology, Steven Jeon is a freelance researcher in musicology, specialising in various topics related to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as popular music, particularly K-pop. His presentation explores the way audiences increasingly shape international music events such as the Eurovision Song Contest, highlighting how cultural competitions are not only battles between songs or countries but also arenas where fan communities mobilise, participate, and collectively construct cultural value, identity, and belonging.